How to Grow

“Wealth gained hastily will dwindle, but whoever gathers little by little will increase.”

– Proverbs 13:11

A word for our hasty, have-it-now culture; “Wealth gained hastily will dwindle, but whoever gathers little by little will increase.”

We need to learn that lasting growth, financial, spiritual, or otherwise comes slowly. There’s a reason why people who win the lottery generally don’t last long as millionaires, and why the spiritual highs induced by conferences or camps or retreats often fade and leave a person unchanged. Things that grow quickly tend to die quickly. Weeds that shoot up overnight die the next day. Flies are born, grow, and die quickly, but no one is applauding them.

If we want anything in our lives to increase then we need to do the day-by-day labor of gathering and tending. Want your bank account to grow? Work hard and often and regularly set aside money to save. Want to become an excellent musician or athlete? Train daily, slowly increasing your level of ability by your discipline. Want to know scripture better? Read it, and little by little your knowledge will grow. Jonathan Edwards understood this, so in his early 20’s he resolved, “to strive to my utmost every week to be brought higher in religion, and to a higher exercise of grace, than I was the week before.” Week by week by week he grew, and as a result, nearly 300 years later, he is still known as one of Americas greatest theologians.

God has created this world so that “Whoever gathers little by little will increase,” and he’s told you so. Take advantage of that knowledge and start gathering!